“Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.

Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.” (Joel 2:15-16)

As we saw in yesterday’s DWOD, God is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”

But this is no reason to procrastinate.

It is implied that the window of time may be quite narrow.

This is no time to dilly-dally. This is no time to slack off. This is no time to put off until tomorrow.

The Message version puts it this way:

“Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion! Declare a day of repentance, a holy fast day.

Call a public meeting. Get everyone there. Consecrate the congregation.

Make sure the elders come, but bring in the children, too, even the nursing babies,

Even men and women on their honeymoon— interrupt them and get them there.”

Can you not sense the urgency in these words?

Let no one be left out. Gather the entire community—elders, children, nursing babies.

Even members of the community who would normally be allowed to enjoy their privacy, such as newlyweds are not to be exempt.

Remove the “Do Not Disturb” signs from the doorknobs of the honeymoon suite. And then disturb them. Get them out of there!

There is no time to be wasted.

As the apostle Paul put it: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Yes, we are on a forty day fast. But, let’s not put off repenting till the very end.

Let’s get ‘er done right away.

The sooner we do it, the sooner we will realize that God is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”

One of our fasters did this on Day 1.

The picture accompanying this post is a series of pictures the Lord gave her as soon as she obeyed the command to repent.

This is how Sulojana and I interpreted them for her.

“All three pictures are connected. They follow a sequence.

The picture of a man washing a woman is really Jesus washing you clean. This is probably a reference to an intense “cleansing” process such as Sozo or Restoring The Foundations.

The pedestal washbasin is God’s way of saying that you have the Holy Spirit to keep you cleansed all the time right where you are, e.g. at home. We call this process “sanctification.” Simply put means, you are being made more and more like Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

The cup with the three golden strands is how God sees you. As you are being cleansed, you are becoming a very valuable vessel in God’s hands. The three golden strands could signify Father, Son & Holy Spirit or faith, hope and love (I Corinthians 13:13)

The bottom line is that the Lord sees you as a clean vessel being used in very privileged places by Him. The cleansing to which you are willing to submit yourself is the process by which He gets you from where you are to where you will be.”

What an awesome way to start off the Fast, eh?

I would have to say that she sensed the urgency of repentance and acted on it right away.

I hope and pray that you will follow suit.